Surely it would be the greatest result on Humberside since Eighties warblers the Housemartins named their chart-topping album London 0 Hull 4.

And arguably Hull hasn't known such excitement since Del Boy and Rodney set sail for Holland to smuggle diamonds - in Uncle Albert's rusty bathtub moored on the city's fishing quay.

In a classic episode of Only Fools and Horses entitled To Hull And Back, everyone's favourite dodgy market traders returned from Amsterdam with a fistful of sparklers.

But the Trotters' loot was small change compared to the lovely jubbly awaiting Hull City if they win promotion to English football's promised land for the first time in the club's history.

At £60million-a-season, Premier League football would be worth more to former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott's constituents than 10 years' toll charges to cross the Humber Bridge.

But never mind Two Jags, Hull's surge towards the elite has coincided with the arrival of Two Jays - Nigerian import Jay-Jay Okocha, so good they named him twice.

Okocha's stellar influence has helped to turn a cultural desert where the M62 runs out, and the best cabaret in town is an evening with Tigers cult hero Billy Whitehurst, into a sporting hotbed.

Tomorrow the Tigers are at home to Watford in one of the Championship's most pivotal promotion clashes of the season, and it's such a big game that BBC Radio 5 Live are parking their caravan at the KC Stadium for the day.

Okocha, whose left-hand drive tank has been a popular attraction with autograph hunters at Hull's Cottingham training ground, will be absent after picking up a knee injury in training.

But Tigers manager Phil Brown - with whom he worked at Bolton for two years - has no doubt the Nigerian midfielder has been a major factor in sprinkling stardust on the biggest city in Europe never to have a top-flight football club.

Brown said: "Jay-Jay has brought to this club a belief that we can play at a higher level.

"What he can do with a football in training on a daily basis, and occasionally in a Hull City shirt, sends shivers down your spine.

"He has also brought an awareness to the outside world that Hull exists.

"He lives on the international planet, and it has been a bit strange for people here to have camera crews from Qatar and Nigeria camped on our doorstep.

"And I can't believe there have been many Hull players in demand before as commentators at the Africa Cup of Nations, but that's a measure of the stardom the name Okocha brings to the table.

"Unfortunately he hasn't played that regularly because of injuries and, more recently, the first red card of his career against Burnley, which hurt him deeply because he is a very religious man. He got sent off by Mike Riley for raising his hand above headhigh to a 5ft 6in player, whose antics were unforgivable, and Jay-Jay is such a placid man that he took it very personally.

"If you look at the video of that incident, he stood there subserviently, hands behind his back in front of the referee, praying he was not going to get a red card. It's such a pity because we're talking about a player whose gift has been to put a smile on people's faces all over the world, and he gets treated like that."